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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23575180">The Happy Lives We Earned</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/inadistantworld/pseuds/inadistantworld'>inadistantworld</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Critical Role (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aftercare, Blow Jobs, Emotional Sex, F/M, Light Dom/sub, Pegging, Strap-Ons</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:09:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,662</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23575180</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/inadistantworld/pseuds/inadistantworld</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They've earned happy lives, so Percy isn't quite sure why he's not feeling very happy. While he knows he should talk about it and handle it properly, he wants something else first. He just wants to earn feeling good, then he'll handle whatever is bothering him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III/Vex'ahlia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>121</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Smut_Elamshinae</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Happy Lives We Earned</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>It has been so long, please forgive my rusty smut and terrible title, I deserve a break.<br/>Social distancing is hard and making some of us (me) miss thinking about how good Percy and Vex smut is. This isn't anything special but it was fun to write something a little more for me than anything else. I've been in a bit of a writing rut, hopefully this is a sign I'm getting out of it.<br/>Hope you guys like it, I miss them so much</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Percival de Rolo stood in the doorway of his wife’s library. It was his too, technically at least, but these were<em> her </em>books. His books were in the other library that was used by visitors as well, perfect for his various interests as well as showing off a little to other nobles with his rarer finds. The more dangerous books or books he was using while he was working were kept in his workshop, locked away or lying on his desk.</p><p>This room, the one next to their bedroom, was filled with books she had wanted close to her so she could read them in a quieter, more personal space. Percy liked them too, but he always picked them up differently and read them knowing that they belonged to her more than anyone else.</p><p>It was her library and he hesitated to enter it knowing that he was bringing <em>his </em>problems into it.</p><p>“You’re lingering, darling. I believe some might even call it loitering.” Vex was in the large armchair beside the window, leaning up against one of the cushioned arms with her legs pulled up and tucked in next to her. She had closed her book and was watching him hang in the doorway.</p><p>Percy felt the sudden urge to leave. She knew why he was here though, and it was clear from her soft expression that she wanted him to tell her. She had always been able to read him like a book. He was grateful that Vex had given him the space to be by himself for a while. When he first felt the dip in his mood and the heaviness in every breath after so long of being…fine,<em> actually</em> fine, happy, and content, she noticed immediately. She looked at him like she was afraid to break with him.</p><p>Percy had feared she would push to know what was wrong. At the beginning she prodded slightly but stepped back when he had shown he didn’t want to talk, claiming he was fine and that it was just a sour mood, he could handle it. Though they had gone through the motions they had both known Percy just wasn’t himself. She let him not be himself for a while though knowing he would come her when he was ready. And now he lingered in her doorway.</p><p>“Come inside, Percy,” she shifted to make space for him next to her.</p><p>Percy took a deep breath and listened to her. He sat beside her and was quiet for a while. She let him. “It’s come to my attention that I may not be okay right now.”</p><p>Recovery was a long process, they both knew that. She wondered if it was easier for them to bury things deep when they were adventurers. They didn’t have the time and things seemed so huge in comparison to their bad days. Or weeks. Longer. Things were different now. Sometimes things were just bad and now they sat with it, nothing making them ignore it and bury it and pretend. Now they had to deal with it. It was a learning process.</p><p>She took his hand in hers. “I know,” she said it softly. It was not teasing or an accusation, just a statement. Affirmation.</p><p>It might have been bias but his wife’s hands were perfect for Percy. Callouses like his from their work, scars from their mistakes, a firm touch because she knew he wanted that. “I…don’t know why. Things are good. Things are…I should be better.”</p><p>She pulled his hand gently and the rest of him followed suit. He draped a long arm over her waist and pressed his cheek against her shoulder. “I know.” It’s okay, she meant. You don’t have to be, she meant. And Percy knew what she was saying and he let out a shaky breath he’d been holding for weeks. “Can I help?” She asked after a while, because she knew sometimes she couldn’t do anything.</p><p>He began to fidget. Percy’s fingers began to twist and turn the hem of her shirt and he was clenching and unclenching his jaw against her arm. “I…<em>want</em>.” She knew what he meant, still it almost surprised her, or it would have if she didn’t know him better. She turned her head to look at him while he frowned and worked through his thoughts. “I know it’s a little strange, honestly I should just try to take it easy and just talk about things. I will. Later. Right now though…”</p><p>“It’s not strange, dear. Tell me what you want, let me help.”</p><p>He took another deep breath. “I want to be good.”</p><p>Ah, she thought, it made sense now. Percy was not a self-conscious man. He knew he was beautiful, he was rich, creative, strong in his own ways, witty, smart. Her husband was filled to the brim with pride and she <em>loved</em> him for it. She felt as much pride for him as he did for himself and as he did for her. But there was something in him that stopped him from loving her in the beginning. Something that made him leave in the middle.</p><p>In their year off before they were married and after their early antics and excitement turned into something softer, gentler, more filled with quiet moments and late night talks that became early morning talks. When things settled into comfortable and content. Percy had left her. He had hurt her badly enough that for a short time she was bitterly grateful that he did so, saving her from thinking they could spend their lives together. She wondered how many of her stupid books he read to get the idea into his head that he needed to leave her to protect her from himself.</p><p>Later, the night they worked it out, came back together stronger than before, his told her that his reasoning had been, ‘Monsters don’t get happy endings. We get put down.’ There was a darkness in him that even he feared sometimes, even still. Perhaps it was not the same darkness, but sometimes he just wanted to be reminded that she saw him as something beautiful, something worth saving.</p><p>“Alright, Percy,” she teased the hair at the nape of his neck. Soft curls and waves that she could thread her fingers into. “Do you want something specific?”</p><p>She swore she could feel his cheeks warm through the layers of her clothes. She loved her noble, proud, proper husband. She loved to see that piece of him struggle with his desires. He didn’t have many issues with it anymore, not after this long of being with Vex’ahlia, but there was one thing that still got to him like this.</p><p>He cleared his throat, “The uh, the toy I made for you would be nice I think.”</p><p>She scraped her fingernails against his scalp lightly. “What toy do you mean? You’ve made me so many, I’ll need you to be more specific for me.”</p><p>Her husband, proper and polite and who had been raised to never speak of such raw, vulgar desires in such ways, was no longer so innocent or shy. Vex wasn’t surprised to feel his mood shift with her teasing. The tightness in his shoulders loosened ever so slightly and his hand began to creep under her shirt. His voice was smoother, deeper, “I was hoping you might use the one for both of us.”</p><p>“You want my cock, darling?”</p><p>Vex could feel her husband shiver when she said it. “Yes.” He was breathless already.</p><p> </p><p>Percy was kneeling on the floor while he waited for Vex’ahlia to get ready. He was shirtless and there was a tent in his dark pants. And when she came into the room, he could barely remember his name.</p><p>She was naked and it didn’t matter how many times he had seen her like this, she was the most stunning vision he had ever seen every single time. Especially now, with a leather harness and a bright blue dildo jutting out from her. He was incredibly proud of it; they’d done plenty of tests to make sure they both enjoyed it to the fullest. On the inside of the harness there was a lovely little device that pressed against her clit and with a little magic he made it so that the deeper it was inside him the faster it vibrated against her.</p><p>Vex’ahlia loved when he went down on her. His nimble fingers and his silver tongue and his pure desperation to please her. She could have him do that to her forever. Tonight, though, was about him. It didn’t mean she wouldn’t enjoy it, in fact she planned to enjoy it <em>a lot</em>, it just meant that she planned to do some things a little different tonight.</p><p>It was a fine line, she believed, what Percy wanted. Being good, being useful, but she didn’t want to step into him being used, which was something he liked most nights but not this time. This time she wanted him to feel differently. She thought it best to take focus away from the things <em>she</em> liked best.</p><p>Her fingers ran through his hair and he leaned into her touch without thinking. “My good, darling boy,” she said softly. Still there was a small downturn to his lips and while he didn’t pull away from her he sat straighter and stopped leaning into her hand. So Vex trailed her fingers down his cheek and jaw until the pads of her index and middle finger were under his chin and she could tilt his face up to look at her. “What’s wrong, Percy?”</p><p>His eyes flicked away from her. “You can’t just tell me that because I want it. I have to earn it. It’s not…if you just use it for no reason then it’s not the same.” And then he looked back to her and said, in a voice that almost sounded like pleading, “I want to earn it, Vex.”</p><p>“Do you trust me?” It is not an accusation when she asks, it is an honest, careful question. She knows that it is an answer that can change, that sometimes things do not feel the same and it is not something either of them can control.</p><p>“Yes.” It is not a hurt answer, not one he says to please her, not one he says out of habit even though he has never said no before. He knows she means it and he knows it’s important to respond with the truth in the same way.</p><p>“Do you trust me to handle you properly tonight?” Another honest question. He can say no. He doesn’t want to but he can.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“You told me you wanted to be good for me, yes?” He nods a little stiffly. “Do you trust my judgement? Trust me to decide when you’ve earned it and reward you properly for it?”</p><p>These questions are harder. Not because the answer is different but because he knows how she feels already, even if he feels he isn’t deserving of her decisions yet. It takes longer to answer this time while he weighs his feelings before saying, “Yes.”</p><p>“I like when you earn it, Percival.” Vex rubbed her thumb against his cheek, stubble like sandpaper almost and she liked that too. “I like when you work hard. I like when you prove to me how much you want something. I like when you show me how badly you want to be good for me. How much you like listening and following my requests. I like that, I have no intention of lying to you when I know I don’t have to.”</p><p>Percy took two deep breaths and his eyes fluttered shut when Vex’s hand moved back to his hair. Her nails scraped lightly against his scalp and the tension seeped out of his shoulders as she did so. “I want to work for it.”</p><p>“You will,” she promised and it was only a little bit of teasing mixed in with the very serious promise that she would not leave him feeling undeserving of her treatment of him. “And Percy, dear,” and now her voice held the faintest trace of a warning but she still wore a warm, teasing smile and her touch was impossibly gentle with him, “good boys don’t talk back and they don’t correct me.” It would not be helpful for him to say he had not earned it while she was rewarding him.</p><p>“Of course,” he sat up a hair straighter. Vex felt that he had made his decision and was ready for her to give him exactly what he had asked for.</p><p>“You’re beautiful,” she said warmly and the hand not laced in her husband’s hair dropped so that she could wrap her long fingers around her blue dick. She sighed at the faint vibrations from the light touch and held it so that the tip pressed down against Percy’s bottom lip. “Wait,” she ordered. The touch of magic barely noticeable against her, almost enough to feel good but instead it was just barely a tease. This wasn’t about her though, this was about Percy.</p><p>His lips were parted slightly and she watched him close his eyes and saw his chest rise and fall with his shaky, slow, controlled breaths. He said nothing and he was careful not to move.</p><p>“You know this toy better than anyone. And you know me better than you know your little, incredible, inventions. I shouldn’t be wrong to think you could make me cum with just your mouth. You’ve done it so many times before, this time will just be a little different, but you’ve always been a quick learner.” He had sucked her off like this but they always moved onto grander things before he could finish. She figured this would be a little test for her self-control as well.</p><p>He opened his eyes and looked up at her. He didn’t take her into his mouth, not yet, he knew she had not released him from her earlier command. This was his chance to ask for something else, to say he didn’t think he could, to say he didn’t want to try. But gods did he want to try. Vex could see in his eyes how badly he wanted it and so she grinned and said, “Take your time, darling. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than here with you like this.”</p><p>Percy started the way he always liked to. Slow. Methodical. Teasing.</p><p>His hands grabbed at her hips, pressing into the soft flesh there. She felt as if he was holding her in place, not that she minded. She had no intentions of leaving, she didn’t think she would be floating away anytime soon either, so if he wanted to hold her like he was afraid to lose her then she would happily let him hold her in silent prayer so that she could prove herself worthy of his worship.</p><p>She felt his lips against her thighs, kissing so softly she wondered if she was imagining it. And then he kissed her fingers. She had forgotten she was still holding the member in her hand, she had been too focused on Percy to realize.</p><p>She let go, sure to drag her fingers against his lips a little more than necessary, then brought her hands up to begin undoing her braid. Slowly her hair came loose, falling over her shoulders in thick, dark waves. Her eyes were closed, a small curve to her lips, her brown skin glowing in the candlelight, the golden freckles she had glinting when the light hit them just right.</p><p><em>She is a vision</em>, Percy thought as he dragged his tongue from the base of her cock to the tip.</p><p>Vex shivered, finally being able to really feel something. He wanted to make her do it again. To please her. To—</p><p>He pressed his fingers into her a little harder.</p><p>To earn her praise.</p><p>He took the head into his mouth, felt the weight of her on his tongue, hollowed his cheeks for no reason other than he knew she liked how he looked when he did his best for her. He wanted to make one that she could feel in more than vibrations, one she could feel him suck and the heat of his mouth. Her hand grabbed a fistful of his hair and she moaned softly so he filed the idea away for later and took more of her.</p><p>It was a slow build. His mind never stopped turning and he was completely focused on the challenge before him. As far as Percival was concerned he had never failed in his life. Perhaps made some…unconventional choices, perhaps made some decisions others frowned upon, but he had always succeeded. He had no intention of losing his streak now. So he started slow, took his time, sliding more of her cock between his lips before backing out to just the tip and doing it again and again and again.</p><p>And then his nose was touching her and he was looking up at her with his bright blue eyes and his smudged gold rimmed glasses, seeking approval for taking her whole cock like that. And she gave it to him. She moaned openly, the strong vibrations against her clit drawing her even closer to her climax. One of her hands was on the back of Percy’s head, not holding him there (not this time, that was not what he wanted this time) but a sign of how much she liked him there. Her other hand moved to pull and pinch at her nipple.</p><p>Percy had to back off again but only halfway this time. Vex had to use her grip on Percy’s hair to stop him from immediately trying to take her all again. “Take your time,” Vex was still trying to catch her breath, “Don’t rush me.” Her main concern was Percy hurting himself in his eagerness, but she also wasn’t sure how long she would last with him doing that.</p><p>Percy paused for a moment to take a few breaths of his own before he slowly took her the whole way down again. He didn’t hold himself there as long, backing off and taking her all before doing it over again until he built up a steady rhythm for them both.</p><p>It was not long until Vex’s legs were trembling.</p><p>“Percy,” she breathed out, a warning, a request.</p><p>He sped up first and Vex could hear the wet, desperate sounds from him, like he only cared about pleasing her and not about being a proper, careful man.</p><p>Percy did not need her to tell him when she came. He knew her body better than that, he knew her tells big and small, he knew the build up and the crest and he knew how to draw it out for her.</p><p>Vex had to pull him off her cock when it became too much for her to take. “Thank you, darling, your mouth is always so incredible.” His lips were parted and he was panting so she took her thumb and dragged it over his reddened bottom lip. “I would like to reward you, my gorgeous boy.” His tongue flicked against the tip of her thumb. “Strip. Get on the bed.” She stepped away, leaving him to do as she asked while she walked to a chest on the other side of their room.</p><p>She heard rustling behind her but didn’t turn to look. Instead she opened the chest and pulled out a small glass bottle of oil the kept for occasions just like this. She held it between her hands, hoping to at least warm it up a little bit if she could.</p><p>By the time she turned around Percy was naked like she had asked. He was kneeling on the bed, his legs spread wide and he was leaning forward on his elbows. A familiar and comfortable position.</p><p>Vex got on the bed with him and settled herself behind him.</p><p>Percy sighed when she touched him for the first time. Her hand started on his thigh and moved up to palm his ass for a moment. And then she took her hand away again. She drizzled lube on her fingers and set the bottle aside. Her clean hand gripped his hip and she leaned forward to kiss the small of his back and she reached under him to stroke his dick.</p><p>Percy dropped his head down so he could press his forehead against the sheets. It took everything out of him not to whine when she stopped. She brushed her slick fingers against his hole, barely pressing against him. He wanted to beg for more, to push back into her, to show her how badly he wanted her. It wasn’t the point though. He was being good. He was earning it.</p><p>She started torturously slow, the tip of her index finger slipping in before going back to just barely touching him. Her other hand reached between his legs and she touched him slowly and softly. It wasn’t teasing, she was simply taking her time with him. Percy was being pulled in every direction, her finger pressing ever so slightly deeper and then starting over when she added a second and then a third and her other hand caressing him dick, fondling him and stroking him and drawing him close before pulling away entirely. Her mouth pressed against the curve of his ass, kissing him before playfully biting at the flesh there.</p><p>Percy’s had fistfuls of the sheet in his hand and he pressed his forehead down against the bed, whining loudly and openly, his proper reservations thrown out the window. She crooked her finger inside him and his lips dropped open in a needy, desperate moan. She kissed his back, against a scar from one of the swords that they sewed up back in the early days when they needed to be more careful with their healing spells. Then to another one, this one with a silver sheen and the skin unnaturally smooth from Pike’s magic. Another one, more ragged and rough, made with his own shaky hands that couldn’t see very well before he had someone to help, they didn’t talk about that one. Another up on his shoulder, once again done with needle and thread, she had taken care of that one herself and her hand had shaken too, so close to him, shirtless and the campfire’s light flickering across the lean, toned body, and the look in his eyes, his lips pressed in a tight line from pain, gods he was the most beautiful boy she’d ever seen and he—</p><p>“Vex please,” he gasped out, breaking her train of thought, “Please-I want-please Vex.”</p><p>“I love hearing you tell me what you want,” Vex took her fingers from him and reached for the rag that she laid with the bottle of oil. She wiped her hand quickly and tapped on his hip twice, a silent sign for him to turn over for her. They didn’t usually do it like this when he asked her to use these toys, but then again most nights he asked her to were not like this. “I love giving you what you want,” she told him as she leaned down to kiss his chest.</p><p>She started slowly, so slowly he wondered if he would go mad before he came. Gods he didn’t want anything else though, to go mad with her would be nothing less than bliss. Didn’t they deserve a little bliss? After everything they had gone through?</p><p>Percy whined when she snapped her hips forward and her hand slipped down between them to touch his cock, slick with precum, and she wrapped her fingers around him loosely so he couldn’t get quite enough friction. “Vex’ahlia,” he bucked up into her hand as best he could.</p><p>“Fuck, Percy, you feel so good,” she moaned in his ear. The vibrations were strong when she was deep in him like that, even he could feel it when she was still. He liked it better when she moved, though, and he intended to let her know.</p><p>He ground back into her, “Please,” it was a prayer when he said it like that. Vex’ahlia was a goddess who always answered.</p><p>Vex shifted and then Percy’s leg was on her shoulder and there was a delicious stretch in his thigh when she thrust into him and she was so <em>deep</em> he couldn’t think of anything but how full he was when she was in him and how empty he was without her. Her lips burned on his calf when she pressed them against him and his head was swimming with how <em>much</em> of her there was.</p><p>“Beg a little more for me, darling,” she whispered against his ear with a sly smile he could hear in her voice, “you’re beautiful when you do.”</p><p>Every whimper, soft cry of her name, every simple request for “more” or “harder” or “don’t stop” was rewarded with everything he asked for and more. And when he asked for more than she could give him she let his leg down again and leaned back away from him, her hand now behind her on the bed to give her a better angle as she thrust into him.</p><p>And Percy had the best view in Exandria. Her chest was magnificent and when he tried to sit up to touch her, kiss her, feel more of her she pressed her hand firmly against his chest, “Stay there for me. You be good for me and I’ll let you cum when I think you’ve earned it.”</p><p>She had golden freckles that dusted her shoulders like a mantle of sunlight and her hair fell down in thick, heavy curls and waves. He canted his hips up against her, as if to see how strict she was going to be with her instruction, and she rewarded him with her hand at his hip and a slow roll of her hips into him. So he did it again.</p><p>She fucked him slower than they were both used to, drawing it out longer for them. They needed more than quick satisfaction this time, they had more to say in their intimacy. Vex showed her devotion, her pride in him, her understanding of his needs, with artful rolls of her hips, gentle touches on his heated skin, even how she touched herself, showing him how badly she wanted this too. Percy showed his adoration, his trust in her, his determination to become a man not only worthy of her love but worthy of loving her, in the way he fisted the sheets and the quiet pleas of her name and how he arched up into her.</p><p>“Vex’ahlia,” she looked like a goddess to him, how could anyone worship any being that wasn’t her, “I can’t—soon—I need—” his voice came out in short gasps that matched her rhythm but never made sentences. Vex didn’t need them, she knew what she wanted and gods she wanted it too.</p><p>She leaned over him again, kissing him hard and desperately and with more love than she could contain inside of her. She kept herself from falling completely on him with one hand braced beside his head and the other came between them to wrap around his cock. She knew what he wanted, how he wanted it, what he deserved. It wasn’t long before she could feel him shaking, trying to hold back still, so close to breaking. That wouldn’t do, holding back like that until he couldn’t and then failed in his attempt.</p><p>“What do you need?” She asked quietly when she moved from his lips to his neck to catch her breath. While he came up with his answer she bit and kissed at the pale skin of his throat.</p><p>“You first,” he let out a trembling moan as she sucked a deep hickey onto him.</p><p>He still felt like he needed to earn it, and she had promised him that she would make him do so. So she didn’t argue, instead she put more focus into how the angle worked for her, the speed and the way that she wanted it. She didn’t ignore him and what he liked, of course, her hand still worked him and she was careful not to bring him over the edge unwittingly.</p><p>Vex had to bury her head into his shoulder when she came. She buried herself deep in her husband, the vibrations from the toy pressed against her perfectly and drawing it out while she stroked Percy’s cock. She kissed him shakily, trembling from the stimulation and unable to form the words she wanted to say. She was grateful that sometimes they didn’t need them.</p><p>One of Percy’s hands tangled in her hair and the other draped over her shoulder, scrabbling for a handhold on her toned back, leaving red marks to blend in with her numerous scars and in sharp contrast to her golden freckles, marks she would cherish more than whatever villains or gods had tried to claim her with.</p><p>She felt him shudder underneath her and spill onto his stomach and chest between them. She slowed down and her grip on him was lighter as she brought them both down from the high. When they were sated and she leaned away to look at him she saw wet streaks on his cheeks and his eyes were still shut and his lips now pressed into a thin line and his body shook for an entirely different reason. Vex didn’t say anything though, she just dried his cheeks, straightened his glasses for him, kissed him lightly, and held him until he his breathing became normal again.</p><p>Then she stood on wobbly legs and took the harness off. She held her hand out to him, “Come clean up with me darling.”</p><p>Percy’s laugh was almost breathless, “Now?” He took her hand anyways and followed her to their private bath.</p><p>A little bit of technology and a little bit of magic and they had hot water whenever they pleased. She gestured for him to sit at the edge, which he did without questioning her, and then she took the soap and sat behind him on the tiled floor with the water almost up to her knees and her husband settled neatly in front of her.</p><p>She wet his hair, rinsed his body with hot water, and then began to wash his stark white hair. She scraped her nails against his scalp and took care to keep the water from dripping into his eyes. And then she washed his shoulders, his back, wrapped her hands around him to wash his chest. She worked the tension from him in the most gentle way imaginable.</p><p>“I think I’ve been getting restless,” she admitted after a while as her hand brushed over a silvery-green, too smooth patch of skin left over from what she was pretty sure was an arrow wound Keyleth had healed. “We earned our quiet life, we earned close to fifty of them I’m sure,” she smiled and traced the Slayer’s Take mark on his shoulder, “I’m just not sure if that’s what I want anymore. I spent all my childhood wanting to have a normal life with a normal family, like I had with my mother. And when we ran away all I wanted was enough money to be comfortable, to stop having to lie and steal and take jobs I didn’t want. And when we all started doing the whole save the world thing, I just wanted it to be safe enough that they wouldn’t need us. And now I have my normal life with my family, a city I call my <em>home</em>, money to live more than comfortably, and the world is safe enough without us. But gods sometimes I miss it.”</p><p>He sighed and pressed his cheek against the inside of her leg, “Being normal is so <em>boring</em>, isn’t it?” He meant more, he meant it was too quiet for how loud his mind could be, too soft for his calloused hands, too nice for a world he had been so cruel to. She didn’t need to mention any of that though, they both knew.</p><p>“I suppose nothing says we can only be the happy, Lord and Lady of Whitestone. People like seeing their leaders outside their castles, out helping people and working legitimate jobs instead of just taking their tax money. We’d be doing our people a favor really.” It would be good for us. We just aren’t normal anymore; we shouldn’t be leading normal lives.</p><p>He was quiet for a while. Vex didn’t push him to say anything, just ran her hands over him, cleaning him and caring for him while he thought about it. “I think it might be nice. To do something different every once in a while.”</p><p>“I think it would be good for us to get out, use up some of this pent-up energy to help people. I would like to prove I am worthy of all this trust our people have put in me.”</p><p>Percy wondered how she had thought through all of this from the time when he told her he wanted to <em>earn</em> it to now where she was suggesting a way to earn more than just an orgasm. She’d already come up with something to try and help curb that feeling, and while he was sure it was also something she had been wanting already he was knew that the timing of the idea was not coincidence.</p><p>He turned his head and pressed a soft kiss against her knee. “I think it might be good for both of us, at least worth a try.”</p><p>She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. “I’m glad you think so, darling. Now if you would help me wash my hair we could talk about where we want to start.”</p>
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